NCR to expand productivity

NCR Corp will expand production and productivity at its Beijing manufacturing plant - NCR (Beijing) Financial Equipment Co - in support of its growth plans in China and the Asia region.

Automatic Teller Machines' volumes in NCR's Beijing facility are predicted to achieve compound production growth of 66 percent between 2009 and 2012 as it continues to grow its financial industry business in China and other parts of Asia, according to Rick Marquardt, senior vice-president, Worldwide Operations for NCR.

In addition, the Beijing plant has now extended its production portfolio to include retail point-of-sale terminals and kiosks in support of NCR's strategy to extend its industry and solution portfolio in the world's fastest growing market.

NCR is a major ATM supplier in China with the largest installed base. According to Retail Banking Research, China is expected to overtake the United States as the world's largest ATM market by 2013 and China's installed base of Electronic Point-of-Sale is forecast to be double by 2016 from 2010.

Eyeing huge potential business, NCR plans its future business growth on its further involvement in the Chinese industries. The United States company now faces considerable competition in the industries it serves, including ATM maker Diebold, among other rivals in financial services, industry experts said.

"China is a key growth market for NCR, where there is huge market potential for self-service solutions across multiple industries," Marquardt said.

"The Beijing plant is critical to support our regional manufacturing model in enabling us to create better customer intimacy, respond faster to market demand and foster innovations locally. The strong volume growth is not only driven by local market growth, it has also proven our success for ongoing investment in automation innovation to increase employee productivity," he added.

In expanding the production to include point-of-sale machines, the Beijing plant has invested in developing a locally designed automated production system. This newly developed production line will increase productivity by more than 50 percent, according to NCR.